It’s the week of Thanksgiving, and as such it seemed a good time to pause, take a breath, look around, and say thanks. So, in no particular order:

Thank you to my engineering and technology co-workers, both here at Cisco and everywhere else, for being so adept in evolving and adapting in this great era of innovation.

Think about the pace of change in our lifetimes, attributable to very smart people, focused on innovating: We’ve gone to the moon, explored Mars and even built a space station. We’ve decoded the human genome in this same period of time. We’ve helped to create not just the Internet, but also the capability to “put the Internet in your pocket” – to make that endless stream of information available to people wherever there’s an IP connection.

Thanks, too, to our service provider customers, for challenging us to dig deep and do our best work to help create this next great era of consumer choice and innovation – to facilitate that shift to IP-based entertainment and communications experiences. They’ve challenged us to not just focus on innovation that benefit consumers but consider the viability of the business models in support of entire media ecosystems. Real market shifts occur when new technology delivers compelling consumer value while sustaining a tangible economic model. I’m very grateful that we’re a part of making it happen with you.

On the last day of a New Orleans week that contained two major conventions – the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers’ (SCTE) annual Cable Tec-Expo, preceded by the Cable Television Association for Marketing’s (CTAM) Summit – early morning shop talk requires a strong cup of coffee.

In this brief video discussion, Cisco’s Director of Video Solutions Marketing, Murali Nemani talks candidly about “what’s in it for cable” to deliver a suite of IP video services. In his view, it’s a three-step process that’s already beginning.

First, sending video services over bonded DOCSIS channels means pursuing the only path to those 15 billion video-hungry, IP-enabled end points which analysts predict will be present at the end points of the broadband network within 5 years. Whether “managed” (by the cable operator, such as cable modems and set-tops) or “unmanaged” (purchased by consumers), those IP end points will be seeking video over broadband.

Second, the continued attention and investment in DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts will help fend off competitive broadband “speed wars” while laying the foundation for video delivered over IP. Cable operators have the plant capacity, spectrum, and scale to reach an unprecedented footprint of IP end devices.

Lastly, cable’s continued work on the “video back end,” from content delivery networks (CDNs) to set-tops and next-generation gateways, will help the industry permeate the IP video marketplace and drive adoption across the U.S.

In this brief video discussion, Kip Compton, Director and General Manager of the Video Content Platforms Business Unit for Cisco, hits upon a topic that’s top of mind for lots of people at this week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo in New Orleans: What it will take for the cable television industry to extend its lead in IP to its core business – video.

If IP video is about delivering a great user experience across a lot of devices, cable’s getting there. If it’s about extending the reach of today’s premium bundles, integrating content from the Internet onto the TV – without having to pay multiple providers or getting locked in to multiple set-tops – then cable isn’t just “getting there” – it’s in a truly great competitive position.

Why? People want video mobility and a great user experience, with better search and usability. They don’t necessarily want it, though, from six or 10 different sources.

Cable television is a unique mix of broadband network reach and content aggregation. As the industry turns up the heat on its transition to delivering more video services over DOCSIS, it is supremely positioned to succeed. Read More »

In this brief video discussion, Rob Polack, Senior Director of Cisco Video Center of Excellence, examines the challenges for cable operators as they shift more video traffic onto their IP plant.

In short, operators will face three distinct challenges in the transition. One is skill sets. As attendees of this week’s SCTE Cable-Tec Expo know well, this industry is at a pivot point. The volume of change – analog to digital, MPEG to IP, multicast to unicast – will create a serious appetite for IP-related training. Read More »

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